I had surgery on Friday 3/9, thought all went well. I woke up on Sat morning and had extremely distorted vision . At my post-op visit they informed my that both flaps had a wrinkle. The doctor smoothed the wrinkle and inserted a contact lense to help the healing. My wife helped my put in the drops which they say is what probably caused the wrinkle. No one told me to do the drops myself! I continued the drops as if it was the first day of surgery (by myself). Went back to Dr's on Sunday and my vision had improved to 20/80 however it is extremly blurry due to adema and inflammation. I am having a hard time reading up close even with cheater glasses (2.00). I returned on Monday to Dr's and he added a new drop however my vision is still really bad. Is this a common side effect to the flap wrinkle? The Dr says that it should heal pretty quick however I am very worried, I am having a very difficult time driving and working. Any encouraging words?

Wrinkles can occur without you putting in the drops. It is possible to touch your cornea when applying medication and wrinkle the flap, but don't blame yourself about this. It may simply have been a consequence of the surgery. It is not exaclty a common problem, but it is a know complication.

Corneal flap wrinkles are called striae. There are two kinds, macro-striae and micro-striae. Each are resolved with different methods. We have a detailed article about Lasik striae that you will want to read.

Expect your vision quality to be poor while the wrinkles are being resolved - even with glasses. Depending upon the type of striae the doctor may recommend lifting the flap, flooding the area, repositioning and smoothing the flap. Micro-striae seem to resolve with no intervention.

Glen,
Thanks for your reply. The Dr. smoothed the flap on saturday now it is the adema and inflamation I am dealing with. I am told that it is the adema and inflamation that is causing my poor vision now. Any idea how long this may take for the adema to go away.
Thanks

It sounds like you had macro-striae. Your doctor will be much better estimate how long before the edema resolves. Much depends upon how severe the manipulation of the flap and the difficulty of the wrinkle. I would expect symptoms will last for days, but may be weeks.